Hit Makers: How Things Become Popular

A book that explores the question repeatedly posed by every business, artist, producer and publisher- what makes a hit a hit? With incisive analysis and captivating storytelling, Atlantic Senior Editor Derek Thompson puts culture in the spotlight and asks why certain products and ideas achieve extraordinary popularity. Drawing on ancient history and modern headlines - from vampire lore and Brahms's Wiegenlied to Instagram and Fifty Shades of Grey - Thompson explores the psychology of hits and reveals how we can all become more intelligent consumers of culture. Though dozens of blockbuster films, Internet memes and number-one songs seem to have come out of nowhere, hits have a story and operate by certain rules. People gravitate towards familiar surprises- products that are bold, yet instantly comprehensible. Now, film, music, and media companies can use new tools to learn what makes their consumers tick. Hit Makers pulls back the curtain on this new world to reveal what people want and how things catch fire. From the dawn of Impressionist art to the future of Snapchat, from small-scale Etsy entrepreneurs to the origin of Star Wars, Derek Thompson tells the fascinating story of how culture happens - and where genius lives.

About the Author :
Atlantic Senior Editor Derek Thompson is one of the most-read authors at the magazine. He is also a weekly business correspondent on NPR's Here and Now, which reaches an audience of nearly 4 million listeners. He has been named one of Reuter's 'Blogs to Follow', Time's top 140 Twitter feeds, and Huffington Post's 100 best economic reporters, and Forbes' '30 under 30'.

Review :
Fascinating ... Thompson has huge enthusiasm for his topic and has amassed an amazing amount of material, including many offbeat and engaging stories. ... [Should] be read for insight and provocation [Thompson] has assembled a book in the Malcolm Gladwell tradition: telling great stories to illustrate some fascinating and often far-from-obvious theses Thompson's diligent research and lively prose ensure that Hit Makers is always informative and entertaining Thompson does a really fascinating job of explaining how things become popular, drawing on a wide range of cultural phenomena, from Star Wars to the iPhone, Taylor Swift to Game of Thrones [An] engaging cultural study Spirited ... An entertaining and informative guide A useful survey ... Thompson makes lots of snappy remarks and unexpected comparisons While giving Lady Luck her due, Thompson studiously examines the myriad factors that make the things we buy, like and follow so irresistible: whether Facebook, TV shows such as Seinfeld, Bumble (the app, not the insect), even favorite lullabies. In Hit Makers, his first book, Thompson tackles this mystery with solid research, ready wit and catchy aphorisms ... A wonderful book Hit Makers is thoughtful and thorough, a compelling book ... A terrific look at what makes a hit, from the Mona Lisa to Donald Trump Derek Thompson's Hit Makers is a sharply observed history of the megahit, from the 13th-centuy tunic craze to the iPhone, tracing the strange ever-changing mixture of genius, dumb luck, business savvy, and network math that turns an obscurity into a worldwide smash This book is brilliant, a fascinating exploration of the relationship between artistry and industry, the ways that everything from immigration to distribution helps create the popular imagination. You may never look at your favorite film or song the same way again. It should be required reading for anyone working in the popular arts Enthralling - full of 'aha' moments about why some ideas soar and others never get off the ground. This book picks up where The Tipping Point left off Derek Thompson's Hit Makers is a terrific read - a sparkling combination of fascinating stories, cutting-edge science, and superb business advice. Just as he does when he writes for The Atlantic, Thompson shares more interesting ideas per paragraph than practically any other writer today. Hit Makers is a bible for anyone who's ever tried to promote practically anything, from products, people, and ideas, to books, songs, films, and TV shows I always read everything by Derek Thompson I see, and this book was no exception. Why things become popular is one of the most important questions in an ever-more networked world, and Derek Thompson's Hit Makers is the best and most serious attempt to take a look at it Derek Thompson has long been one of the brightest new voices in American journalism. With HIT MAKERS, he becomes one of the brightest new voices in the world of non-fiction books. Ranging from Impressionist art to German lullabies to Game of Thrones, Hit Makers offers a fresh and compelling take on how the media function and how ideas spread. As deftly written as it is keenly argued, this book - true to its title - is a hit What makes one song hit, and another, flop, one book a success and the other, fodder for the discount bins? That's the mystery Derek Thompson probes with his characteristic verve, wit, and insight in Hit Makers. It's an engrossing read that doesn't settle for easy answers, and one that seems destined to become one of the hits that Thompson so deftly analyzes Hit Makers blends historical lessons with technological and social insights to explain what makes culture tick, and hits happen